Volume 4 Chapter 28: Rejuvenation

“I heard that upon your return to Berlin, you might receive the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross! Less than two hundred people in the entire Reich have this honor! Of course, I’m not questioning you—your achievements deserve this award.”

Red Skull couldn’t hide his envy, but his tone was sincere, with little jealousy. During the raid, Qin Lun first provided crucial advice, allowing the Gneisenau to shell Casablanca. Although the bombardment nearly brought devastation to Casablanca, it also created a narrow window of opportunity for the “Gentlemen Alliance” within the Allied Forces’ iron curtain of defense.

Even though the success of this raid was mainly due to the intelligence guidance from Lili and Little Lian, the “Gentlemen Alliance” was unaware of this. Skorzeny only cared about the final outcome, which was that Qin Lun and Grant located the research materials of the “Super Soldier Program,” and Joey eliminated the enemy’s only superhuman, Kathleen.

“Credit for the achievements belongs to all gentlemen; I was just lucky!” Joey gazed at Red Skull with Gerthard’s light gray eyes, slightly raising his chin like all proud German soldiers.

“Luck only favors the prepared!” Red Skull lowered his head and sighed, looking at the Second Class Iron Cross Medal on his chest with a hint of frustration.

“You are neither a super pilot nor a sniper, nor a commander of army troops. To receive the Second Class Iron Cross Medal, its honor is no less than mine!” A flicker of cunning passed through Joey’s eyes as he suddenly spoke with earnestness, comforting the silver-masked man.

“Thank you!” Red Skull gave Joey a grateful glance.

Although Joey didn’t sincerely praise Red Skull, his words weren’t entirely wrong in a way. The Iron Cross Medal of the Third Reich was arguably the most difficult military honor to obtain during World War II.

The ordinary Iron Cross was divided into five classes. The lowest, the Fifth Class Iron Cross Medal, had over five million recipients so far, while the Fourth Class had hundreds of thousands. Structurally, these two lower classes were more like small pins, without even a ribbon.

Starting from the Third Class Iron Cross with its ribbon, it truly qualified as a medal. However, the difficulty of obtaining an Iron Cross above the Third Class rose sharply. By this point in the war, fewer than a hundred thousand German soldiers had received the Third Class Iron Cross.

The Third Class Iron Cross was basically the highest honor a German soldier could attain. This wasn’t because higher classes weren’t awarded to soldiers, but because they didn’t live long enough. Those who could receive an Iron Cross above the Third Class were mostly army officers commanding company-level or larger units, captains of warships and submarines, aside from super pilots and snipers.

These individuals had much higher survival rates than ordinary soldiers, allowing them to live to receive the Iron Cross’s glory. According to Baron Stark, the commander of the Hydra Corps, before becoming a superpowered being, Red Skull was just a special forces sergeant. His ability to earn the Second Class Iron Cross demonstrated his brave and tenacious character.

“Why does Baron Stark call you Red Skull? What is your real name…” Joey looked puzzled at Red Skull’s silver mask.

“…After I became a superpowered being, I decided to abandon my original surname for the Reich.” Red Skull remained silent for a moment, then slowly reached up and removed the silver mask from his face. “As for why I’m called Red Skull, you’ll understand once you see!”

Joey faced Red Skull directly after he removed the silver mask. His pupils slowly dilated, and a dazzling light shone in his eyes.

“This is truly… beautiful!” Unconsciously, the “Dissector” spoke in Chinese. It wasn’t until he noticed, from the corner of his eye, that he had lifted his arm without realizing it, that the serial killer jolted in shock, aware he had lost his composure.

“Ahem, sorry, I lost my composure. Your face is truly special…” Joey awkwardly withdrew his hand, rubbing it in embarrassment.

True to his name, Red Skull’s entire head had no hair, and even the typical prominent Western nose was gone, replaced by two small holes. His thin facial skin resembled crimson lizard skin, terrifying to behold, making his whole head look like a skull painted with blood.

“After Steve Rogers became Captain America, he clashed with the Hydra Corps multiple times in special operations. To be honest, we lost more than we won, often relying on soldiers’ bravery just to hold off Captain America. Since then, the Hydra Corps has been eager to obtain the Allied Forces’ ‘Super Soldier Program.'”

Red Skull blinked his somewhat translucent crimson eyelids. Within his withered eye sockets, the large white eyeballs, each the size of a ping-pong ball, appeared exceptionally horrifying. “After many efforts, we achieved minor results, and my current appearance is the masterpiece of that incomplete success!”

Red Skull pointed at his blood-red skull. “Dozens of Hydra Corps elites participated in the experiment back then; I was the only one who survived. I gained strength similar to Captain America’s but lost my human face.”

“It’s a pity. If those elites of the Reich could have waited until now, I believe they wouldn’t have had to pay such a heavy price!” Joey feigned a sigh and shook his head, his peripheral vision glancing at Red Skull’s crimson head, a hint of barely noticeable greed flashing in his pupils.

“We couldn’t wait. At that time, America had just entered the war. Whether for localized special operations or political propaganda needs, the Reich needed someone to stand against the Allied Forces’ new weapon.

At that time, superhumans hidden among civilians on both sides hadn’t joined the war. On a battlefield filled with ordinary people, the sudden appearance of a Captain America was as shocking as the British tanks in World War I!” Red Skull put his silver mask back on and smiled wryly.

Joey watched Red Skull get up and leave, licking his lips, an inexplicable glint in his eyes. This was a soldier madly pursuing honor; in a way, he wasn’t much different from a few serial killers.

No wonder he envied my First Class Iron Cross Medal. It wasn’t that Red Skull felt the Second Class Iron Cross lacked honor, but he believed that the Iron Cross earned through superpower experiments wasn’t as genuine as one earned on the battlefield.

Joey had nearly revealed his true self just now. Fortunately, he reacted in time. If he had reached out like a pervert to touch that blood-red skull, he probably would have disgusted everyone in the room.

Red Skull, with his back to Joey, showed a trace of doubt in his eyes. His perception was sharp; even though Joey had tried to cover it up, he could tell that Gerthard indeed seemed unusual.

But Gerthard’s strangeness wasn’t like others who were shocked by his ugly and terrifying appearance. Instead, it seemed more like he was pleased to see a target, full of… appreciation for him. Red Skull shuddered inwardly. He knew his thought was disgusting, but it was what he had genuinely sensed.

Thinking this, the brave German soldier did something he regretted for a long time. Red Skull turned back and, as if possessed, asked Gerthard—that is, Joey—”Lieutenant, you seem to quite admire my appearance!”

As soon as he asked, the room suddenly fell silent. Although the other members of the “Gentlemen Alliance” didn’t turn to look, their perked ears showed that almost everyone’s attention was focused here.

Sensing the curious stares around him, Red Skull immediately regretted his words deeply and hurriedly tried to salvage the situation. “Please forget what I just said; it was really rude!”

“It’s nothing. It’s just that you reminded me of the first time I went into battle. When bullets blew off an enemy’s skull, the red-and-white blood flower I saw through my sniper scope was as stunningly beautiful as your face!” Joey twisted his mouth strangely, showing an awkward smile.

Stunningly beautiful… The blood-red skin behind the silver mask twitched slightly. Compared to this top sniper before him, the brave Red Skull suddenly felt he was still relatively normal. If he had to become like Gerthard to earn the highest honor on the battlefield, then the First Class Iron Cross Medal didn’t seem so attractive anymore.

If the room had been filled with a gossipy, ambiguous atmosphere earlier, Joey managed to kill the mood entirely with just one sentence. Even Skorzeny raised an eyebrow, looking at Joey with a new perspective.

Grant lowered his head, cursing under his breath. Although Joey had cleverly salvaged the situation, he wasn’t sure when this time bomb would explode.

For the first time, the Joker felt some regret about agreeing to Lili’s proposal to form a temporary team with them. Back in Shattered Starry Sky, although Qin Lun had Lin Feng and others sell temporary team slots to other prisoners, there weren’t many suitable candidates.

Qin Lun originally intended for them to find any ordinary prisoner, not a serial killer, to join the temporary team, making it easier for him to control and command.

Lin Feng and Little Lian naturally didn’t dare to offer slots to death row inmates; the whole operation was handled by Lili. Lili believed that adding just any other prisoner wouldn’t significantly boost the team, and having only one serial killer as the leader wasn’t good news for the others either.

Unlike Lin Feng and Little Lian, who were full of confidence in Qin Lun, Lili worried that the “Dissector” might use them as bait or discard them at a critical moment. So, since Little Lian and Lin Feng proposed bringing Qin Lun on board, she felt she needed to find another serial killer to keep Qin Lun in check.

The first person Lili approached was The Disciple Hansen, but he flatly refused her proposal.

Although learning about team missions and the role of Apostle teams in advance wasn’t a bad idea, Hansen wasn’t keen on dealing with Qin Lun. Last time at the Scavenger camp, when he had crafty ideas, Qin Lun caught him red-handed. Violent types like The Disciple, who relied more on action than thought, instinctively resisted companions who were too clever and unruly.

After searching around, Lili ended up finding only one person, Joker Grant, willing to join their temporary team. Of course, this was only after she secretly promised he wouldn’t have to pay for the team slot.

The brief exchange between Red Skull and Joey eased the tense atmosphere in the room. After the medic tended to everyone’s wounds, Skorzeny finally stood up from his chair.

“Gentlemen of Germany, are you ready? Let us fight to the end!”